


When I Finish Laughing

by dragons_and_angels



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Magical Tattoos, Siblings, Tattoo Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 17:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20393764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragons_and_angels/pseuds/dragons_and_angels
Summary: It was strange how having a secret tattoo could turn into half of your family knowing about it.Prompt - 'You got a tattoo?!'





	When I Finish Laughing

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to G for betaing for me! I've been wanting to write some Next Gen gen fic and this prompt was the perfect opportunity.

Hugo didn't mean to find out, he had just been <strike>eavesdropping</strike> paying attention when Rose and Lily had been whispering to each other. As soon as he heard something interesting he sat bolt upright from where he had been lying behind the sofa. His sister and cousin jumped. 

"Hugo, what the hell?" Rose asked. 

"You got a tattoo?" he shot back at his sister in shock, horror and no small amount of envy. "Mum is going to kill you. Worse, she's going to lecture you for months." Rose might have left school already but both her and Hugo had a healthy fear for their mum's lectures.

"Why were you listening to us, you little sneak?" Rose grabbed Hugo's ear and pulled him towards her, forcing him over the top of the sofa until he was standing in front of her. 

"I was reading behind the sofa perfectly happily until you came in. You're the ones interrupting me. Besides, why would you talk about getting a tattoo here if you were worried about being overheard?" Hugo frowned at his sister and winced as she pinched the top of his ear. "Ouch, Rosie."

"He does have a point, Rose," Lily said. She had gotten over Hugo's sudden appearance and had relieved him of his book in order to read the back cover. "You probably shouldn't have brought it up here in the sitting room." She put the book down on the coffee table, disinterest plain.

"Doesn't mean Hugo isn't nosy," Rose retorted. 

"It's okay, Hugo won't tell," Lily said with such confidence that Hugo knew, if he did end up telling, it wouldn't end well for him. Lily never liked people making her a liar. 

"What did you get a tattoo of?" Hugo asked curiously, ignoring Lily's assertion for now. "Please don't tell me it was your boyfriend's name," he added, horror-struck at the possibility. Rose had been dating Joseph-not-Joe for five months now and he was the worst one of Rose's boyfriends so far. 

"Rose has more sense than that," Lily said scornfully at the same time as Rose said, 

"I thought about it." 

"Rose!" Lily and Hugo stared at her and Rose coloured brilliantly red. She had paler skin than Hugo but it meant that when she blushed, it was as noticeable as her hair. 

"I thought about it but I didn't," she said defensively. 

"It's the fact you thought about it that's the worrying thing," Lily muttered as she folded her arms and stared at her cousin. 

"So, what did you get?" Hugo asked again. 

"How do I know you're not going to make fun of me for it?" Rose looked sulky now and Hugo caught sight of Lily rolling her eyes. 

"Rose, you can trust us to tell the truth," Lily said in what she probably imagined was a sympathetic voice but really sounded like she was getting ready to laugh. Rose glared at her. 

"Yeah, you show it to someone else and they would nod and smile and say it's really nice because they don't want to hurt your feelings. You don't have to worry about that from us," Hugo reassured his sister, who didn't look happy with this.

Lily sighed and gave Hugo a look. He stopped talking. "Look, Rose, you don't have to show us but Hugo has a point. And who else are you going to show? Joseph?" She said the last name with such scorn that this time the flush on Rose's cheeks came from anger.

"What's everyone's problem with him anyway? He's a good guy." Rose smoothed down her T-shirt and glared at Hugo and Lily. 

"You know how I feel about him," Lily replied. "If he looks down on your family, you can't expect your family to like him." 

"He's a pompous, arrogant snot," Hugo said simply. "And you're distracting us from your tattoo." 

"Good point, Hugo," Lily said in slightly insulting admiration. 

"I make good points all the time," he muttered but the two witches ignored him. 

"Show us your tattoo." Rose hesitated and Lily gave her a look. "Come on, you know you're going to eventually so you might as well get it over with." 

"Fine." Rose grasped the end of her T-shirt and pulled it up until it was just above her belly button. A golden snitch darted around her stomach, the gold paint shining in the light, until it was joined by a dragon with greyish-black scales and brilliant purple eyes. The dragon flew up and ate the snitch in one bite before it released it and the chase started again. It was unmistakably large and very well done, the dragon's scales and the snitch's wing feathers visible when it flew across Rose's stomach.

"You've got a dragon catching the Snitch," Hugo said. He didn't know whether to be impressed or not. 

"That was not what I was expecting to see," Lily said, a little bemused. "Why did you get that?" 

"I wanted something interesting," Rose said, holding her T-shirt up so she could look down at the tattoo herself. She looked pleased with the reception of her tattoo, though Hugo was mostly confused. "And after Uncle Charlie took me to see the Hebridean Black dragons up north, I've always wanted a tattoo of one of them." 

"Rose, what on earth is that?" The horrified voice had Hugo straightening up just in time to see Rose go pale. He braced himself and turned to see his mother and father standing in the open door to the kitchen, both sets of eyes fixed on Rose's stomach. 

"Uh oh," Lily said quietly. 

Hugo echoed that sentiment quietly. This wasn't going to go well. 


End file.
